Smile For Me
by Hazumi-Yuki
Summary: When Vincent comes back to Rocket Town with Cid they both have a little thinking to do. Vincent contemplates the meaning of hands. Valenwind


_**Smile For Me- Valenwind**_

_Yes, I do like Cid and Vincent being adorable together, so please don't flame me~ I hope everyone likes this new story, and sorry it's been so long since anything new has gone up. Just trying to keep up on schoolwork!_

_Anyway! Enjoy!_

_~Yuki  
_

The air in Rocket Town was the same temperature as a freezer. Everything was coated in a layer of thick white that blinded the eyes of anyone peeking through heavily curtained windows. Smoke from brick chimneys rose up towards the dense gray clouds that blanketed the sky. These clouds were what was keeping the Shera land-bound; along with a certain pilot who was less than happy about the weather throwing off his return to Midgar.

"This whole goddamn thing is fuckin' stupid!" Cid Highwind tossed an angry glare through the frosty window pane of his cottage. Sadly, the look did nothing to part the thick clouds overhead. He mumbled something less than pleasant and stomped back into the kitchen, heavy footfalls smacking against the wooden floor. Shera gave him a sympathetic look. She would have been more than happy if the weather would clear up so Cid would stop brooding around the small house and head back to Midgar.

"You can't control the weather Sir, maybe you should go find Vincent, I haven't seen him all morning." She suggested, picking up her pen from the dinning room table and snagging the edge of her notebook and tugging it into her arms. "I think I am going to go take a bath." She shuffled off hoping he would have found something to do when she decided it was safe to leave the bathroom again.

Cid made a little noise and sighed. He hadn't seen Vincent yet today either. It really didn't surprise him much anyway. Vincent had been more people friendly the last week, but he was still a mystery. Cid had gone and picked him up just outside of Mt. Nibel upon request from Shelke. It had been a strange phone conversation too. She had simply called him up and announced she had located the enigma and that he could use a lift back to Midgar.

They had been heading in that direction when Cid decided to make a pit stop at Rocket Town. This had obviously been a mistake, because as soon as they had landed the sky scrunched up and made an angry face before vomiting white all over th ground. Almost three feet of it. They were stuck until they could unfreeze the ship's engine, which meant waiting for a thaw...whenever the hell that was going to happen.

This left Cid to his thoughts. The ones he had been avoiding all through the week. Ever since he had seen that almost smile dance across Vincent's porcelain face as he boarded the Shera. Cid had never once seen the man smile, or even be halfway light-hearted. Vincent had later told Cid that he had come to an understanding after he had gone missing. He had come to terms with something that had been haunting him for a very long time. Cid decided that it must have been one helluva soul searching to go and disappear for almost a month without a word to anyone. More than one person thought he had died.

Vincent still had the habit of just vanishing into thin air however. This gave Cid thinking time he didn't want. If he thought about that silly smile he was pretty sure his head would explode. Or his heart...chest...thing.

With an angry grunt he snatched his flight jacket from the back of a chair and stormed out the door, letting the chair tip backwards and clatter to the floor in his wake.

White glittering specks. It was amazing how if you looked at snowflakes long enough you felt like they are falling up, or left, or right; not down. They collected all over the the naked tree branches. Drifting and floating so gracefully that it felt like standing in an icy cold dream. Or being caught in one of the old fantasy books Lucrecia had liked so much.

Vincent Valentine blinked his white speckled eyelashes. His gaze was that of someone who was truly spaced out. Frozen, crystal breath escaped from the high collar of his heavy crimson cloak in thick puffs. He had been standing still for so long that the snow had gathered on his shoulder and hair. It was a rather comical sight to see the tall, raven haired man looking like something out of a child's Christmas story.

The eyes blinked dazedly again, not really taking in anything in particular, just watching the snow fall. He didn't know what else to do. Now that he was able to start fresh he didn't know what to do with himself. For so long Vincent had walked the path of the damned. Never staying in one place for long, never getting attached to anyone or being openly friendly. Now he was rather lonely and lost. Not that this was new. He had always been a little lonely, but the fact that he wanted to fix it was surprising to him.

Another thing that had been bothering him was the reaction he had felt when he had stepped aboard the familiar deck of the Shera a week ago. A strange warmth had filled him and he had been more than a little touched by how many people were happy to see him. Even people who had just barely been introduced to him during the fight against Deepground. Everyone had welcomed him back with such joy that he had been stunned. However, nothing was more startling to him than when Cid came up and clasped his hand, welcoming him back enthusiastically. The hand that had covered his had been so warm he couldn't help but smile. It had made his whole body tingle and his heart had started beating like a drum.

Vincent extended the gloved hand and looked dumbly at it. White flakes fell onto the cold leather and Vincent could see the intricate, delicate patterns of the frozen crystals. He wiggled the stiff fingers and sighed. He didn't understand why he had reacted to Cid that way. He also wasn't sure he understood why his heart sped up each time he looked at his hand.

"Ya'know, ya might freeze to death out here,"

"Wha?" Vincent turned his head in the direction of the snowy path leading back to Rocket Town. Cid stood awkwardly in the snow with his hand shoved into his pockets and a cigarette poking out of the corner of his mouth. The little glow at the end spat smoke as Cid spoke around it.

"Ya gotta be damned crazy to go standin' around out in the fuckin' snow for god knows how long," Cid replied shortly, hunching his shoulders against the freezing wind and looking away from Vincent.

"Oh...I was just watching the snow." Vincent replied lamely. He knew one did not stand outside in the snow for four hours just to look at it. He really just couldn't take standing in that house next to Cid anymore. It confused him. He needed to get out and think alone for a little while.

"Just watchin' eh?" Cid cast an amused look at Vincent, raising a blond eyebrow. He snorted and pulled a gloved hand from his jacket to take the spent butt from between his lips. He let it fall from his fingers to the snow on the ground. It made a hissing noise before going out completely.

Vincent watched him curiously. There something that fascinated him about Cid Highwind. Besides the fact that the man could rival Reno in a swearing match. He was sturdy, and he hands were warm, and he was gruff and welcoming at the same time. Vincent looked down at his hand again, shaking his head to clear it.

Cid was watching Vincent as well. At the elegant way Vincent stood, even in the cold. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by it. He seemed perfectly comfortable actually. Until he glanced down at his hand, winkling his brow with worry lines as he thought deeply about something Cid couldn't even guess at.

"Watcha lookin' at? Ya got frostbite from standin' out here so long?" Cid came over to Vincent, the snow crunching loudly under his boots as he walked. He stopped in front of the gaunt man and reached for the hand he had been examining, taking it in both of his. "Damn! Yer fuckin' freezin'." He made a scoffing noise. "How long are ya plannin' on standin' here huh?"

Vincent felt heat radiate into his hand and right up his arm...and into his shoulder, and up his neck, and right into his cheeks. He went perfectly still and his brain promptly stopped working right. "I was...I...don't know. Until I worked it out I guess." he stumbled out, his deep voice gruff with embarrassment.

Cid rubbed his hands against Vincent's to continue warming it. "Work what out?" He gave the taller man a quizzical glance. He felt something in his chest catch when he saw the blush on Vincent's face. Was that a blush, or just the cold?. What was he thinking? Vincent wouldn't tell him anything. They guy was like a giant locked vault, always brooding and thinking but never speaking. What did Cid want Vincent to say?

"I..." Vincent caught Cid's blue eyes with his crimson ones and felt something click. The gaze was clear and intelligent, but it was also almost boyish, with a sleek mischievous spark. Vincent felt like he was being probed visually. It was a little uncomfortable. "I was trying to understand why you made me smile." Vincent said.

Then he realized he had opened his mouth and said exactly what he was not ready to say. With a gasp his eyes went wide and his face turned the color of his cloak. He pulled his hand away from Cid and took a giant step back.

Cid stared.

And stared.

Then blinked slowly.

"I...made ya smile?" he repeated what Vincent had said slowly, so he could make sure he had heard that correctly, and a silly smile formed on his lips.

"Well yes, in a way, it was just...I...you were so happy when you looked at me...and I...well, oh fuck." Vincent spat the curse so vehemently that his pure confusion vocalized. Cid was surprised that Vincent had said it at all. He was pretty sure he had never heard the older man curse once in all the time he had known him.

"I should go..." Vincent declared abruptly and went to make a hasty escape before his mouth and his mind started playing against him again. He could almost _hear_ Chaos cackling at his mental train wreck.

"Now Hold up!" Cid lurched forward and caught Vincent's arm, "Don't just...do that whole 'Ima walk off and brood thing'!" He snapped, his own emotions suddenly turning into a mass of nerves in his chest. He wanted to do something, say something that conveyed what he had been trying to puzzle out all week before Vincent went and vanished again.

"I...when ya smiled I...aw, I don' even know! I...I'm just as confused at you are!" Cid replied, catching a very surprised Vincent by the shoulders, "I mean, I...I wish I understood why I was so damn relieved when ya walked onto that bridge! I...I wanna say something but..FUCK!" Cid stamped a foot, "Why do ya gotta be so damn-so damn-"

Vincent was looking at Cid who was not barely an inch from his face and was overwhelmed with the most insane impulse he had ever had in his whole life.

And suddenly everything made a whole lot of sense.

"I...I love you." Vincent whispered.

Cid went slack jawed.

Before he could say a word Vincent cupped Cid's face softly and leaned in to press a gentle kiss on the pilot's cold lips. Cid was so taken aback by the unexpected action that he couldn't even move. He blinked his very round eyes as Vincent pulled back.

"Holy shit..." Cid whispered huskily, his and Vincent's breath mingling like steam in front of them. Vincent went to pull away again.

"I'm sorry...I..."

Cid caught Vincent by the collar and brought them into another kiss, holding Vincent's shoulder's so he couldn't escape this time.

Vincent had no intention trying to escape, his hands snaking around Cid's waist and pulling them up against each other. Vincent remembered how he felt watching the snow, like it was falling up instead of down. Now he felt like that, like he was floating toward something amazing in the sky, and at that moment he was okay to feel just like that.

Because who better to kiss in the snow than the person who thawed your heart through your hands and made you smile?


End file.
